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Intelligencer: December 13–27, 2004

Mayor Mike
Scares Off Thompson
Who wants to
parry a billionaire?
Just how afraid are the Democrats of Michael Bloomberg? Throughout much of his tenure, our billionaire mayor often seemed to suffer from a sort of political Asperger’s syndrome—and his lack of charisma showed in his low (though now rising) poll numbers. But political observers say that Comptroller Bill Thompson’s decision to take himself out of the mayor’s race, as New York first reported on its Website last week, shows a caution about challenging the incumbent. Thompson had been under pressure to run from Dems who argued that the former Board of Ed president, an outer-borough African-American, was their best weapon. But advisers
say Thompson balked in part because he didn’t want
to risk getting battered by reputation-destroying Bloomberg attack ads. “You’d have that primary,” one
notes, “then turn around
and face a $100 million incumbent.” There’s always 2009. —Greg Sargent